The continuing saga of our adventures using RightStart Geometry and RightStart B. I have a 10yo and a 6yo who have average math ability.The 10yo has done Miquon, Singapore, RightStart Transitions, Level D and Level E; RightStart has saved her from a life a math phobia.
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 35 Converting Inches to Centimeters. I noticed a sidebar on this lesson that gave a mnemonic for the conversion: 1 inch = 2.54 cm is like $1 is 25(quarter) times 4. Hmmm, how clever. I memorized the conversion through brute memorization of using it so often, although I typically use 1 inch equals 2.5 cm when I’m in a hurry (a 4 inch by 4 inch swatch of knitting is the same as a 10 cm by 10 cm swatch, as knitters all over the US are well aware).
After Kid1 completes the lesson I ask if if she remembers the conversion factor. She says, “yeah, it’s 2.75 ... wait, that’s not right ... .” “Wrong number of quarters, I think.” “Yeah, I knew it was something to do with quarters.” I start to pontificate that it’s better to remember it in regards to knitting swatches, and am about to start in on converting seam allowances in home sewing, but she wanders off.
Overall, though, I think maybe the the straight forward memorization is better than the mnemonic. I think she’ll eventually remember it the way I do, through extensive use in sewing and knitting.
Lesson 36 Name that Figure. Fun little game of naming figures which introduces the practice of using letters to indicate vertices. Also has a clever way to remember how to spell Isosceles. Sometimes she simply can’t remember the names of these figures. I worry about that -- does this mean she doesn’t “get” geometry?
Lesson 37 Finding the Areas of More Triangles. The worksheet includes the Guyana Flag problem, which was also in Level E. For some reason we did not do that lesson in Level E, so Kid1 is stymied ... she is trying to measure the sides of the flag in millimeters, and figure out the conversion ratio to give her the measurements given on the worksheet. I point out that she has everything she needs to know without measuring -- the worksheet says the left side is 26cm, the upper edge is 33.8cm, and point E is the center of the flag; we should assume it’s a perfect rectangle.
“Oh!” she exclaims, “that means these 4 triangles have the same area!” Ummmm, does it? I’m not sure off the top of my head, so I cover my confusion by pointing out that we know half the side will be 13cm, etc. etc. so we can find the area of all these other triangles.
As she gets to work I pull out Level E and flip to the lesson. I notice a sidebar: “A gifted child might notice that the triangles each take up 1/4 the rectangle.”
“Hey, guess what! According to this you’re gifted!” Ho ho ho, we laugh. After all, Kid1 is thoroughly convinced she stinks at math ... at least she was until we got involved in RightStart. I guess my worries yesterday were a bit unfounded -- some stuff she’s really good at, some stuff she still needs to work on.
Lesson 39 Area of Trapezoids. First problem; we also didn’t do the Level E lesson on distributive property. Although the geometry book explains it well, I give her a quick rundown (“Pretend I have the invecta balance here and I’m hanging those weights on it....”) and assure her that kids who never saw Level E or any RightStart whatsoever can figure this out. She runs into problems with the worksheet. The book has shown one reason the area of a trapezoid can be expressed as w1 plus w2 times h over 2. She is supposed to discover and explain another way of understanding it: 2 identical trapezoids, rotated and shoved together, make a parallelogram; if you find the area of the parallelogram and divide it in 2, you have the same formula.
She looks frustrated by the concept -- what the heck does the book want? What are they getting at? I say something to the effect, “they just want you to say that since you have 2 identical trapezoids of course you can divide the answer in half. I think maybe it’s so obvious you don’t understand why you have to say it. It’s that ‘gifted child’ thing from yesterday, you know.” She giggles, the mood lightens, and she continues with the lesson.
Lesson 39 Area of Hexagons. She starts off commenting, “you know what? There was another worksheet in the last lesson I didn’t do.” “Are you going to do it now?” “No, I don’t think so.” Thank goodness, because this lesson took at least 1.5 hours as it was. Of course, within that time we ran into a whoppin’ huge fight on the definition of a trapezoid -- for some reason she had concluded that an isosceles trapezoid wasn’t actually a trapezoid, possibly because all the trapezoids she’s been working with are non-isosceles. Thankfully, I found one pictured in lesson 36 (under the lesson on how to spell “isosceles”). Also, she’s quite peeved that 1.2 times 1.4 doesn’t equal something bigger than 1.68 ... pesky decimals.
The final problem involves measuring stars that she had drawn in earlier lessons. I’m glad I’m on hand to demonstrate that you round off the measurements quite a bit to get the ratios needed.
15 August 2006
10 August 2006
Knitting Notes
How's Picovoli going, you ask?
Fa bene. Tres bon. Muy bien, gracias.
(I just realized I have no idea how to say "very good" in Latin or Mandarin. How embarassing.)
I love the darts. I don't think you can see them in this photo, but the waist nips in, then back out via decreases and increases. They look like the darts on June Cleaver's dress bodice. I love the effect. Then again, I'd like to prance around my house in those oh-so-structured dresses and high heels, with my hair done. (I just got in from mowing the lawn. I am sweaty and skanky. I never, ever saw June Cleaver look how I feel right now. But this is the only time I can grab the computer between Kid1's work on Rosetta Stone and her typing program.)
I loved all the stockinette. I enjoy stockinette, particularly on circular needles, because I can read while I knit. I have a huge pile of lovely, lovely books from the library right now. Picovoli is reposing on one now -- it's an Interlibrary Loan, with huge notices of NOT RENEWABLE all over it. (This, of course, simply means that my local library doesn't want to mess with renewal requests. I used to be in charge of ILL at a university library. Most lending libraries will grant at least one extension.) So, I must get this book read NOW. This has been a great knitting projecct under the circumstnaces.
Unfortunately, I'm now faced with sewing up all those picots. I don't think I can do that and read at the same time. I shall have to turn to watching television. Fortunately, we just discovered that we have access to 7 hours of Star Trek every week day -- 2 hours of Deep Space Nine, 5 hours of Next Generation. (Classic Star Trek is available on Saturdays.) So there's hope.
Overall, though, I'd rather read and knit than watch TV and knit. I used to knit in my college classes. Being a goody-two-shoes, I always checked with the professor first to make sure it was okay. This was back before knitting was trendy, so it was some weird, bohemian thing I was asking. And, hey, it kept me awake in class. I should've tried it in Soil Science, which had the very poor schedule placement of right-after-lunch. I mean, it's not like I consider Soil Science scintillating to begin with (there are those who do, I know). And right-after-lunch was the death knell. I always sat right in front, in hopes that would help me stay awake. Nope. Zzzzzz. Too bad, because now I'm not sure what to do with the clay soil on the front slope of our yard. (My mind wanders a lot when I mow. Consider a sampling of what it's like to be in my head whilst I'm pushing my mower, which, by the way, is not self-propelled. And have I mentioned how hot and humid it is today?)
The other BIG knitting news was reported to me yesterday afternoon by a very excited 6 year old ... the next American Girl movie will be about Molly. Now, Felicity and Samantha undoubtably knew how to knit, but Molly actually had a story line about knitting in one of her books. As I recall (amazingly, we own no Molly books) the girls in her class at school were trying to knit socks for the (WWII) soldiers. Molly sensed this would be a Bad Idea, probably because she didn't want to turn the heels (coward). So, they turned their knitting into a patchwork afghan. I've always wondered about this -- how can the cuff of a sock become an afghan square? Did girls back then typically work socks flat, then sew them up? Did they fearlessly cut them open? If they could do that, why couldn't they turn a heel? Was the author just sort of clueless about knitting? I need to re-read the book -- maybe I'm remembering this wrong. I'll definitely be watching the movie, though. We might get some kid-sock-knitting action going, or maybe some afghan-square-knitting action.
Fa bene. Tres bon. Muy bien, gracias.
(I just realized I have no idea how to say "very good" in Latin or Mandarin. How embarassing.)
I love the darts. I don't think you can see them in this photo, but the waist nips in, then back out via decreases and increases. They look like the darts on June Cleaver's dress bodice. I love the effect. Then again, I'd like to prance around my house in those oh-so-structured dresses and high heels, with my hair done. (I just got in from mowing the lawn. I am sweaty and skanky. I never, ever saw June Cleaver look how I feel right now. But this is the only time I can grab the computer between Kid1's work on Rosetta Stone and her typing program.)
I loved all the stockinette. I enjoy stockinette, particularly on circular needles, because I can read while I knit. I have a huge pile of lovely, lovely books from the library right now. Picovoli is reposing on one now -- it's an Interlibrary Loan, with huge notices of NOT RENEWABLE all over it. (This, of course, simply means that my local library doesn't want to mess with renewal requests. I used to be in charge of ILL at a university library. Most lending libraries will grant at least one extension.) So, I must get this book read NOW. This has been a great knitting projecct under the circumstnaces.
Unfortunately, I'm now faced with sewing up all those picots. I don't think I can do that and read at the same time. I shall have to turn to watching television. Fortunately, we just discovered that we have access to 7 hours of Star Trek every week day -- 2 hours of Deep Space Nine, 5 hours of Next Generation. (Classic Star Trek is available on Saturdays.) So there's hope.
Overall, though, I'd rather read and knit than watch TV and knit. I used to knit in my college classes. Being a goody-two-shoes, I always checked with the professor first to make sure it was okay. This was back before knitting was trendy, so it was some weird, bohemian thing I was asking. And, hey, it kept me awake in class. I should've tried it in Soil Science, which had the very poor schedule placement of right-after-lunch. I mean, it's not like I consider Soil Science scintillating to begin with (there are those who do, I know). And right-after-lunch was the death knell. I always sat right in front, in hopes that would help me stay awake. Nope. Zzzzzz. Too bad, because now I'm not sure what to do with the clay soil on the front slope of our yard. (My mind wanders a lot when I mow. Consider a sampling of what it's like to be in my head whilst I'm pushing my mower, which, by the way, is not self-propelled. And have I mentioned how hot and humid it is today?)
The other BIG knitting news was reported to me yesterday afternoon by a very excited 6 year old ... the next American Girl movie will be about Molly. Now, Felicity and Samantha undoubtably knew how to knit, but Molly actually had a story line about knitting in one of her books. As I recall (amazingly, we own no Molly books) the girls in her class at school were trying to knit socks for the (WWII) soldiers. Molly sensed this would be a Bad Idea, probably because she didn't want to turn the heels (coward). So, they turned their knitting into a patchwork afghan. I've always wondered about this -- how can the cuff of a sock become an afghan square? Did girls back then typically work socks flat, then sew them up? Did they fearlessly cut them open? If they could do that, why couldn't they turn a heel? Was the author just sort of clueless about knitting? I need to re-read the book -- maybe I'm remembering this wrong. I'll definitely be watching the movie, though. We might get some kid-sock-knitting action going, or maybe some afghan-square-knitting action.
09 August 2006
Tuesday Teatime
For a total change of pace, we used suppertime as Tuesday Teatime.
MrV was out of town, so we had the supper table to ourselves. I pulled out a copy of Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends. Many of those poems have to do with eating, such as Hungry Mungry, and Pancakes. We also read some non-food poems, like Afraid of the Dark.
I would read a poem, then pause to eat while we would discuss what I'd read. Often the discussion took the form of giggling and repeating favorite lines. Long after the meal was over I overheard lines and images repeated. On the other hand, some of the poems seemed to make no impression at all. That was okay with me -- I didn't like all of them either.
MrV was out of town, so we had the supper table to ourselves. I pulled out a copy of Shel Silverstein's Where the Sidewalk Ends. Many of those poems have to do with eating, such as Hungry Mungry, and Pancakes. We also read some non-food poems, like Afraid of the Dark.
I would read a poem, then pause to eat while we would discuss what I'd read. Often the discussion took the form of giggling and repeating favorite lines. Long after the meal was over I overheard lines and images repeated. On the other hand, some of the poems seemed to make no impression at all. That was okay with me -- I didn't like all of them either.
08 August 2006
RightStart Geometry
The continuing saga of our adventures using RightStart Geometry and RightStart B. I have a 10yo and a 6yo who have average math ability.The 10yo has done Miquon, Singapore, RightStart Transitions, Level D and Level E; RightStart has saved her from a life a math phobia.
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 29, Area of Consecutive Squares. Attention please: this is a very bad place to take a break of several months! Really! Lesson 28 goes with lesson 29! If you take a couple of months off, it can get really weird, particularly if your student has issues with the concept presented anyway.
In our house tears soon welled up. She moaned, “I don’t understand this equation!” Pointing to w squared plus 2w plus 1, she read, “width squared plus 2 width plus 1.” I suggested that she read the w as “whatever number you want” instead of “width” -- does that help? Yes, for some reason it does. Or maybe it’s just getting a grip and realizing that yes, she will do this math and survive.
The question at the end of worksheet 29-2, “on what worksheet did you work with that relationship?” is tough, considering it has been several weeks since she did ANY worksheets. I give prompts.
Lesson 30 Perimeter Formula for Rectangles. In this case w is width. She likes perimeter, and would rather do it than area.
Lesson 31 Area of a Parallelogram. While working on the worksheet she calls out to me, “what are factors?” I walk in and glance at her paper, discussing that factors are the things that are multiplied to make a number. The question says that the preceding problems should’ve reminded her of factors. Hmm, that’s odd -- how would the perimeters that’s she’s been doing remind her of factors? But I have something else on my mind, and wander off. She complains that she got the next question wrong. I look at the sheet and, AHA! This was all about area, not perimeter! Egads! I brood because my child can’t remember the difference between perimeter vs. area. Overall, this lesson took an hour and a half, including discussion about whether to erase incorrectly drawn rectangles (based on perimeter) or throw the whole thing out and start over.
Lesson 32 Comparing Calculated Areas of Parallelograms.. Piece of cake. It’s amazing -- days in the depths of despair over math are followed by days of absolute confidence.
Lesson 33 Area of a Triangle. Yes, we did these lessons back in Level E, but still, this lack of interaction is scary. She gets out math, does it, puts it away. Is she learning anything?
I can't resist discussing the sidebar comment, just so I can feel involved. "Remember, formulas should not be rote memorized. Thik them through so they make sense."
"Did you notice that comment? Eh? Eh?"
"Yes, Mom." Heavy sigh, eye roll.
Lesson 34 Comparing Calculated Areas of Triangles. One great feature of RightStart Geometry is that if the hypothetical homeschooling parent decides to join the Self-Inflicted Injury of the Week Club, the parent can sit with her hypothetically bandaged ankle propped up, writing in her hypothetical homeschooling log that they just had an impromptu First Aid lesson while at the same time the student can do math! Cool!
When I hobbled in to see what Kid1 was up to I discovered she was jotting down a list of mistakes she had found so far in the book -- the time the book didn’t list one of the worksheets to be done, the time the materials list didn’t mention a calculator, and today’s snafu -- part of the worksheet was left off. She suspected that there should be another problem on the worksheet; when she checked the answer sheet the answer was there, but no corresponding problem had been on the worksheet.
On Tuesdays I upload an update of what we did in math for the week.
RightStart Geometry:
Lesson 29, Area of Consecutive Squares. Attention please: this is a very bad place to take a break of several months! Really! Lesson 28 goes with lesson 29! If you take a couple of months off, it can get really weird, particularly if your student has issues with the concept presented anyway.
In our house tears soon welled up. She moaned, “I don’t understand this equation!” Pointing to w squared plus 2w plus 1, she read, “width squared plus 2 width plus 1.” I suggested that she read the w as “whatever number you want” instead of “width” -- does that help? Yes, for some reason it does. Or maybe it’s just getting a grip and realizing that yes, she will do this math and survive.
The question at the end of worksheet 29-2, “on what worksheet did you work with that relationship?” is tough, considering it has been several weeks since she did ANY worksheets. I give prompts.
Lesson 30 Perimeter Formula for Rectangles. In this case w is width. She likes perimeter, and would rather do it than area.
Lesson 31 Area of a Parallelogram. While working on the worksheet she calls out to me, “what are factors?” I walk in and glance at her paper, discussing that factors are the things that are multiplied to make a number. The question says that the preceding problems should’ve reminded her of factors. Hmm, that’s odd -- how would the perimeters that’s she’s been doing remind her of factors? But I have something else on my mind, and wander off. She complains that she got the next question wrong. I look at the sheet and, AHA! This was all about area, not perimeter! Egads! I brood because my child can’t remember the difference between perimeter vs. area. Overall, this lesson took an hour and a half, including discussion about whether to erase incorrectly drawn rectangles (based on perimeter) or throw the whole thing out and start over.
Lesson 32 Comparing Calculated Areas of Parallelograms.. Piece of cake. It’s amazing -- days in the depths of despair over math are followed by days of absolute confidence.
Lesson 33 Area of a Triangle. Yes, we did these lessons back in Level E, but still, this lack of interaction is scary. She gets out math, does it, puts it away. Is she learning anything?
I can't resist discussing the sidebar comment, just so I can feel involved. "Remember, formulas should not be rote memorized. Thik them through so they make sense."
"Did you notice that comment? Eh? Eh?"
"Yes, Mom." Heavy sigh, eye roll.
Lesson 34 Comparing Calculated Areas of Triangles. One great feature of RightStart Geometry is that if the hypothetical homeschooling parent decides to join the Self-Inflicted Injury of the Week Club, the parent can sit with her hypothetically bandaged ankle propped up, writing in her hypothetical homeschooling log that they just had an impromptu First Aid lesson while at the same time the student can do math! Cool!
When I hobbled in to see what Kid1 was up to I discovered she was jotting down a list of mistakes she had found so far in the book -- the time the book didn’t list one of the worksheets to be done, the time the materials list didn’t mention a calculator, and today’s snafu -- part of the worksheet was left off. She suspected that there should be another problem on the worksheet; when she checked the answer sheet the answer was there, but no corresponding problem had been on the worksheet.
07 August 2006
"Warning,"
the writing on the box declared, "Contents may cause dizziness, faintness, and shortness of breath due to happiness. Sender is not liable if recipient ignores children and husband as a result of opening."
(With a little sub script declaring: "Post office people, this is a joke. Contents are benign.")
Yes, it's another fabulous Secret Pal package from TheDenimJumper homeschool Secret Pal Swap.
This one features 2 boxes of tea, including one from Germany called Sommernachtstraum/Summer Night's Dream. Did my Secret Pal realize that we're about to start reading A Midsummer Night's Dream for our Shakespeare play this year? I have the video out of the library -- we can sip this tea while watching, then have some more while reading the play.
A Lord Peter Wimsey book was also in the box. I just finished my first Amelia Peabody/Elizabeth Peters book, and this will be the perfect follow up.
Lip balm -- can you ever have enough lip balm? I can't. And hand balm, too! Both in cute little containers I can pop in my purse.
The yarn is Lana Grossa, Meilenweit Cotton Spirit, a blend of cotton, wool and polymide. Oooooh, this is going to make some nice socks! Kid2 saw it and instantly asked, "Can you make some socks for me out of this?" No, no, no. This is for me!
And the hot pink trim -- you should've seen Kid1's jaw drop when she saw it! It's so glitzy and fun.
I think the hot chocolate mix proves my Secret Pal's sense of humor; I've decided it's never going to be cool enough to drink hot chocolate again. Although, really, we seem to have acclimated to the heat -- we can be out in 95F/35C and feel quite comfy. We figure we're going to need heavy coats if it ever dips down to 65F/18C. Hmmm, maybe that hot chocolate is a good idea after all.
Post it notes -- don't homeschool without them! And such big, fun ones!
A ringbound quote book that my Secret Pal made for me. This is so cool! MrV wants one, too! My current favorite quote: "Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands and then only eat one of the pieces." (Judith Viorst)
And also, a bag of Mozart Kugeln candies -- chocolate, marzipan and pistachio praline. Mmmmmm, I'm waiting to open this so I have appropriate time and privacy to swoon.
The Secret Pal game is wrapping up now. It's been great fun. I think another will be starting, so if you missed out on this one you can keep on eye on TheDenimJumper for the next. Heck, keep an eye on TheDenimJumper anyway -- it's a great place to discuss homeschooling.
(With a little sub script declaring: "Post office people, this is a joke. Contents are benign.")
Yes, it's another fabulous Secret Pal package from TheDenimJumper homeschool Secret Pal Swap.
This one features 2 boxes of tea, including one from Germany called Sommernachtstraum/Summer Night's Dream. Did my Secret Pal realize that we're about to start reading A Midsummer Night's Dream for our Shakespeare play this year? I have the video out of the library -- we can sip this tea while watching, then have some more while reading the play.
A Lord Peter Wimsey book was also in the box. I just finished my first Amelia Peabody/Elizabeth Peters book, and this will be the perfect follow up.
Lip balm -- can you ever have enough lip balm? I can't. And hand balm, too! Both in cute little containers I can pop in my purse.
The yarn is Lana Grossa, Meilenweit Cotton Spirit, a blend of cotton, wool and polymide. Oooooh, this is going to make some nice socks! Kid2 saw it and instantly asked, "Can you make some socks for me out of this?" No, no, no. This is for me!
And the hot pink trim -- you should've seen Kid1's jaw drop when she saw it! It's so glitzy and fun.
I think the hot chocolate mix proves my Secret Pal's sense of humor; I've decided it's never going to be cool enough to drink hot chocolate again. Although, really, we seem to have acclimated to the heat -- we can be out in 95F/35C and feel quite comfy. We figure we're going to need heavy coats if it ever dips down to 65F/18C. Hmmm, maybe that hot chocolate is a good idea after all.
Post it notes -- don't homeschool without them! And such big, fun ones!
A ringbound quote book that my Secret Pal made for me. This is so cool! MrV wants one, too! My current favorite quote: "Strength is the capacity to break a chocolate bar into four pieces with your bare hands and then only eat one of the pieces." (Judith Viorst)
And also, a bag of Mozart Kugeln candies -- chocolate, marzipan and pistachio praline. Mmmmmm, I'm waiting to open this so I have appropriate time and privacy to swoon.
The Secret Pal game is wrapping up now. It's been great fun. I think another will be starting, so if you missed out on this one you can keep on eye on TheDenimJumper for the next. Heck, keep an eye on TheDenimJumper anyway -- it's a great place to discuss homeschooling.
04 August 2006
First Week Back to Homeschooling
Back story: I've been talking about Latin-centered curriculum with my kids all summer, emphasizing how wonderful it will be to pare down the number of subjects studied. Kid1 seemed on board with the idea, especially ditching Rod&Staff grammar which she has grown to loathe as much as I do.
Last week Kid1 announced that she would like to start school this week because "there's such a thing as too much free time," and the days seem to pass more quickly when she's busy. My brow furrowed; an entire conversation about her (failed) resolve to do math or spelling every day all summer hung palpably in the air. I said,"well, you could figure out things for yourself to keep yourself busy, you know." The conversation died. I assumed she meant that she wanted me to be responsible for keeping her busy. I am her accountability partner, it would seem.
So, okay, we would "start school" this week. I suggested a light schedule -- our key subjects are Latin and math, so maybe just some Latin review and math every day.
"Spelling -- remember that I want to do spelling." Kid1 has a deep love of Spelling Power. I am not so thrilled with it, but it's only 15 minutes a day, so it doesn't really interrupt my Multum non Multa groove.
"And I want to learn about the Romans in Britain this year."
"????. You hated the Romans, remember?" Really, we had to skip the last several chapters of Story of the World vol.1 because she was fed up with the Romans.
"Yeah, well, now I want to learn about them." On the other hand, starting Latin this week has been voted down. Go figure.
Kid2 took this as a signal to announce, "I want to learn about the Egyptians this year!" Kid2 had never ever expressed any interest whatsoever in the Egyptians, and I have an unsettling feeling that "learn about the Egyptians" really means "mummify a chicken." Yikes! I said nothing in reply, fearing what I would hear if I probed.
Oh, and the Classical Writing books suggest that kids learn to type so it's easier for them to write out their papers. So, we'll throw typing onto the stack of things to do.
And, coincidentally, Mr.V just got Rosetta Stone Spanish levels 1 and 2, and "Mommy, I've really been wanting to learn Spanish. Can I go ahead and try this?"
At this point the Multum non Multa idea is out the window. Heck, "Latin-centered" is out the window. Kid1's schedule for the week has been spelling, RightStart Geometry, Rosetta Stone Spanish, and typing.
Kid2 has done a bit of phonics. Later in the week she realized that one of her dolls wants to learn to read, although apparently the doll had vision problems and needed reading glasses (for the record, none of us wear glasses, although I've noticed some short-arm-syndrome creeping into my vision). We found a pair of doll-glasses in the basement, and Kid2 has been teaching phonics rather than learning it herself.
Our read alouds have been Norse Myths, King Arthur, and the Little House in the Highlands series.
Honestly, the biggest chunk of time this week has been spent on this:
The origami stuff was in the basement. The weather has been stinkin' hot. The basement is cool.
I love the elephants.
Last week Kid1 announced that she would like to start school this week because "there's such a thing as too much free time," and the days seem to pass more quickly when she's busy. My brow furrowed; an entire conversation about her (failed) resolve to do math or spelling every day all summer hung palpably in the air. I said,"well, you could figure out things for yourself to keep yourself busy, you know." The conversation died. I assumed she meant that she wanted me to be responsible for keeping her busy. I am her accountability partner, it would seem.
So, okay, we would "start school" this week. I suggested a light schedule -- our key subjects are Latin and math, so maybe just some Latin review and math every day.
"Spelling -- remember that I want to do spelling." Kid1 has a deep love of Spelling Power. I am not so thrilled with it, but it's only 15 minutes a day, so it doesn't really interrupt my Multum non Multa groove.
"And I want to learn about the Romans in Britain this year."
"????. You hated the Romans, remember?" Really, we had to skip the last several chapters of Story of the World vol.1 because she was fed up with the Romans.
"Yeah, well, now I want to learn about them." On the other hand, starting Latin this week has been voted down. Go figure.
Kid2 took this as a signal to announce, "I want to learn about the Egyptians this year!" Kid2 had never ever expressed any interest whatsoever in the Egyptians, and I have an unsettling feeling that "learn about the Egyptians" really means "mummify a chicken." Yikes! I said nothing in reply, fearing what I would hear if I probed.
Oh, and the Classical Writing books suggest that kids learn to type so it's easier for them to write out their papers. So, we'll throw typing onto the stack of things to do.
And, coincidentally, Mr.V just got Rosetta Stone Spanish levels 1 and 2, and "Mommy, I've really been wanting to learn Spanish. Can I go ahead and try this?"
At this point the Multum non Multa idea is out the window. Heck, "Latin-centered" is out the window. Kid1's schedule for the week has been spelling, RightStart Geometry, Rosetta Stone Spanish, and typing.
Kid2 has done a bit of phonics. Later in the week she realized that one of her dolls wants to learn to read, although apparently the doll had vision problems and needed reading glasses (for the record, none of us wear glasses, although I've noticed some short-arm-syndrome creeping into my vision). We found a pair of doll-glasses in the basement, and Kid2 has been teaching phonics rather than learning it herself.
Our read alouds have been Norse Myths, King Arthur, and the Little House in the Highlands series.
Honestly, the biggest chunk of time this week has been spent on this:
The origami stuff was in the basement. The weather has been stinkin' hot. The basement is cool.
I love the elephants.
03 August 2006
Random Knitting Thoughts
I took Picovoli and the coordinating knitting bag to a kid-thing yesterday. I was so impressed with myself -- I was going to sit in the background, knitting away, looking coordinated even though I didn't attempt to match my clothing to the knitting and bag (mostly because I didn't think of it until just now). The other moms were going to be So Impressed.
When I got there and pulled out my knitting I realized that I had lost my beginning-of-row marker some time in the last 34 rows of knitting. And, since it was time to place new markers based on the position of that marker, well, hmmm, not much I could do.
I think the problem was that I used official stitch markers. I usually use hair elastics I find down the side of the couch, or old twist ties that are littering the floor. Hair elastics and twist ties have more zing. One sees them and thinks, "what is all that crap hanging on my knitting?" and then recalls that one is marking one's place. Regular stitch markers are so anonymous, they quietly drop off into oblivion.
So I'll have to wait to impress that particular group of moms. One of them impressed me -- I overheard her comment that her choices in medication for a particular condition were limited since, "I'm still nursing," and she gestured to her 2 year old just like it was the most normal thing in the world to be nursing a 2 year old. Woohoo.
In the meantime, I keep popping up with new things I want to start knitting NOW. I found some green merino laceweight in my closet, purchased to knit myself a shawl. I look hideous in green, but this is yarn is so very pretty I might just cast it on and knit a ... thing. A lace thing. A lace thing that exists simply to be soft and lacy and green. Also, I was looking through my Mason Dixon book and was overcome by the notion that I can knit that rug we need for the back door on big, stocky needles. Plus, the new Interweave Knits arrived, full of patterns I could actually picture myself knitting and wearing.
I've also been thinking about sewing. I've spent the morning pondering a subscription to Burda Moden, or maybe re-subscribing to Ottobre. This reminded me that I used to buy Mon Trictot magazine at that dirty little grocery store out past the dorms at college. Does Mon Tricot still exist? I got rid of all my old copies in a fit of decluttering -- I'm not sure why, since the patterns were no worse (and often better) than those in all those old copies of Vogue Knitting and Easy Knitting I kept. In college I knit myself a sweater set out of Mon Tricot, using Unger Cruise (the owner of the nearby yarn store was quite a fan of Unger Cruise or any other acrylic yarn -- she liked the fact that she could break off the yarn by melting it with her lit cigarette, freeing her of the need to keep track of scissors). Gees, those were the days, knitting crappy acrylic just because it was there and I felt like knitting, even though knitting wasn't fashionable at the time. I think I've become overly pragamatic as I've aged.
When I got there and pulled out my knitting I realized that I had lost my beginning-of-row marker some time in the last 34 rows of knitting. And, since it was time to place new markers based on the position of that marker, well, hmmm, not much I could do.
I think the problem was that I used official stitch markers. I usually use hair elastics I find down the side of the couch, or old twist ties that are littering the floor. Hair elastics and twist ties have more zing. One sees them and thinks, "what is all that crap hanging on my knitting?" and then recalls that one is marking one's place. Regular stitch markers are so anonymous, they quietly drop off into oblivion.
So I'll have to wait to impress that particular group of moms. One of them impressed me -- I overheard her comment that her choices in medication for a particular condition were limited since, "I'm still nursing," and she gestured to her 2 year old just like it was the most normal thing in the world to be nursing a 2 year old. Woohoo.
In the meantime, I keep popping up with new things I want to start knitting NOW. I found some green merino laceweight in my closet, purchased to knit myself a shawl. I look hideous in green, but this is yarn is so very pretty I might just cast it on and knit a ... thing. A lace thing. A lace thing that exists simply to be soft and lacy and green. Also, I was looking through my Mason Dixon book and was overcome by the notion that I can knit that rug we need for the back door on big, stocky needles. Plus, the new Interweave Knits arrived, full of patterns I could actually picture myself knitting and wearing.
I've also been thinking about sewing. I've spent the morning pondering a subscription to Burda Moden, or maybe re-subscribing to Ottobre. This reminded me that I used to buy Mon Trictot magazine at that dirty little grocery store out past the dorms at college. Does Mon Tricot still exist? I got rid of all my old copies in a fit of decluttering -- I'm not sure why, since the patterns were no worse (and often better) than those in all those old copies of Vogue Knitting and Easy Knitting I kept. In college I knit myself a sweater set out of Mon Tricot, using Unger Cruise (the owner of the nearby yarn store was quite a fan of Unger Cruise or any other acrylic yarn -- she liked the fact that she could break off the yarn by melting it with her lit cigarette, freeing her of the need to keep track of scissors). Gees, those were the days, knitting crappy acrylic just because it was there and I felt like knitting, even though knitting wasn't fashionable at the time. I think I've become overly pragamatic as I've aged.
02 August 2006
Tuesday Teatime
Kid2 appeared in the kitchen yesterday morning brandishing all the small poems and fourteen more by Valerie Worth. I told her that I wasn't going to read it aloud at the moment since I was about to eat breakfast, but, hey, it's Tuesday! How about we have a Tuesday Teatime?
She danced out of the room, re-entering a few minutes later to announce that she'd found a poem that she wanted to share at our teatime -- Sea Lions. She had pre-read it, and could read all the words (at age 6 she still finds some words rather shifty and prone to playing tricks on her).
Gratuitous picture of our dining room:
It spent most of July in a jumble of drop cloths and icky sticky bits of wallpaper. Two layers of wallpaper were removed, taking off some of the drywall with it. Drywall was repaired, ceiling was repaired (former owners were quite fond of massive draperies that hung by bolts from the ceiling), walls painted, ceiling painted, queer assortment of electrical outlets replaced. We still need to rip up the ugly grey carpet, install a wood floor, purchase a rug and a sane window treatment ... but in the meantime, it's actually usable as a place to have tea.
I had a niggling feeling there was some festival yesterday or today. A quick look at our plethora of festival books showed that it was Lammas, which is also Loaf-mass. Well, it was waaay too hot to bake a loaf of bread to celebrate the beginning of the harvest, so we stopped by Trader Joe's and got a Lemon Crown Cake and a bottle of pineapple juice -- both were a golden yellow that put me in mind of the end of summer.
Kid2 led off our teatime with her reading of Sea Lions. Next, I shared some of the information I had found on Lammas. One of the sources I read noted that bees were busy this time of year, so it seemed quite appropriate to read The Queen Bee from The Brothers Grimm. That led naturally to reading the poem Hurt No Living Thing by Christina Rosetti. I also read How Doth the Little Busy Bee by Isaac Watts, and Go to the Ant from the Bible (all three selections found in Favorite Poems Old and New ).
Next, I read a version of the Sumerian myth of Inanna and her trip to the Underworld, which bears a resemblance to the tale of Persephone and Hades.
After the story was finished, Kid2 gave us a reprise of Sea Lions. This time she concentrated on reading it "poetically".
A great start to another season of teatimes!
She danced out of the room, re-entering a few minutes later to announce that she'd found a poem that she wanted to share at our teatime -- Sea Lions. She had pre-read it, and could read all the words (at age 6 she still finds some words rather shifty and prone to playing tricks on her).
Gratuitous picture of our dining room:
It spent most of July in a jumble of drop cloths and icky sticky bits of wallpaper. Two layers of wallpaper were removed, taking off some of the drywall with it. Drywall was repaired, ceiling was repaired (former owners were quite fond of massive draperies that hung by bolts from the ceiling), walls painted, ceiling painted, queer assortment of electrical outlets replaced. We still need to rip up the ugly grey carpet, install a wood floor, purchase a rug and a sane window treatment ... but in the meantime, it's actually usable as a place to have tea.
I had a niggling feeling there was some festival yesterday or today. A quick look at our plethora of festival books showed that it was Lammas, which is also Loaf-mass. Well, it was waaay too hot to bake a loaf of bread to celebrate the beginning of the harvest, so we stopped by Trader Joe's and got a Lemon Crown Cake and a bottle of pineapple juice -- both were a golden yellow that put me in mind of the end of summer.
Kid2 led off our teatime with her reading of Sea Lions. Next, I shared some of the information I had found on Lammas. One of the sources I read noted that bees were busy this time of year, so it seemed quite appropriate to read The Queen Bee from The Brothers Grimm. That led naturally to reading the poem Hurt No Living Thing by Christina Rosetti. I also read How Doth the Little Busy Bee by Isaac Watts, and Go to the Ant from the Bible (all three selections found in Favorite Poems Old and New ).
Next, I read a version of the Sumerian myth of Inanna and her trip to the Underworld, which bears a resemblance to the tale of Persephone and Hades.
After the story was finished, Kid2 gave us a reprise of Sea Lions. This time she concentrated on reading it "poetically".
A great start to another season of teatimes!
01 August 2006
It's the little things
Here's my knitting set atop my knitting bag:
Note how the purple yarn I'm using exactly matches the purple flowers embroidered on the bag. Isn't that cool? Do you think people see me knitting and think, "Wow, what a pulled-together woman -- her knitting matches her knitting bag!"?
Probably no one has noticed at all. That's why I'm pointing it out to you, so you can know that for one brief, shining moment I was that pulled together.
The knitting is Picovoli. I didn't rip it out last week. I found a schematic for it which showed that it was really shaping up just fine. Also, I got an email intervention from veteran Picovoli-knitter Poppins who told me something to the effect of "trust the pattern" (which reminded me of bit in Mason-Dixon Knitting where they say they want to have an Outward Bound-type event with linen yarn and everyone will "start crying because we all trusted the yarn" -- God help me, I think that's hilarious, which probably proves to y'all I need to get out more). Anyway, I'm trusting and knitting. I really didn't believe the pattern-writer, Grumperina, would have a major booboo in the pattern, so it's a relief to forge ahead.
Someone at Mothering.com was posting about knitting a wedding veil. I'm seized with a sudden urge to knit something large and lacy and stupidly complex. It occurs to me that I have at least 8 years before Kid1 will need a veil -- should I start now? What if she never marries? What if she marries, but doesn't want a veil? Should these considerations stand in my way?
Note how the purple yarn I'm using exactly matches the purple flowers embroidered on the bag. Isn't that cool? Do you think people see me knitting and think, "Wow, what a pulled-together woman -- her knitting matches her knitting bag!"?
Probably no one has noticed at all. That's why I'm pointing it out to you, so you can know that for one brief, shining moment I was that pulled together.
The knitting is Picovoli. I didn't rip it out last week. I found a schematic for it which showed that it was really shaping up just fine. Also, I got an email intervention from veteran Picovoli-knitter Poppins who told me something to the effect of "trust the pattern" (which reminded me of bit in Mason-Dixon Knitting where they say they want to have an Outward Bound-type event with linen yarn and everyone will "start crying because we all trusted the yarn" -- God help me, I think that's hilarious, which probably proves to y'all I need to get out more). Anyway, I'm trusting and knitting. I really didn't believe the pattern-writer, Grumperina, would have a major booboo in the pattern, so it's a relief to forge ahead.
Someone at Mothering.com was posting about knitting a wedding veil. I'm seized with a sudden urge to knit something large and lacy and stupidly complex. It occurs to me that I have at least 8 years before Kid1 will need a veil -- should I start now? What if she never marries? What if she marries, but doesn't want a veil? Should these considerations stand in my way?
31 July 2006
How the Non-homeschooling Majority Lives
Last week the kids went to yet another Vacation Bible School, put on by the church we were attending last spring. This one was Group's Fiesta. Group VBS tends to have better music than other brands, and this was no exception (interestingly, the church putting this VBS on has really crummy music). Also, there was a smattering of Spanish to learn, although Kid2 tended to shout "Vita!" instead of "Viva!" If Group decides to have a Toga Party-themed VBS she's ready.
The significant thing about this VBS was that it ran from 9am to noon Monday through Friday. This would be a week like "normal" people have, dropping off kids in the morning and picking them up later.
Monday: The kids got up at 7am, anxious to start their first day. This totally messed up my morning routine (I expected to drag them out of bed at 8). After dropping them off, I scurried home, exercised and cleaned. Woohoo. Mr.V thought this was a total waste of a free morning ("I would've taken a nap."). Picked up kids at noon, discovering that I am the only mom there not wearing either dark brown or green. I am so out of touch with what is trendy. Spent afternoon at swimming pool.
Tuesday: Kids again up at 7am, but this time I expected it. Dropped them off (still not wearing trendy-mom-type outfit), and ran errands. Realized the last time I was out doing adult-type stuff at 9am on a weekday was sometime in the early 1990s. I purchased a copy of Bust magazine and a cream cheese brownie to celebrate my adulthood. The celebration lasted about 15 minutes, then I had to go pick up kids. Spent afternoon at swimming pool.
Wednesday: Kids up a little later, but still determined to go (I had emphasized that they didn't really need to do this, and I have no problem whatsoever with ditching VBS). I needed to mow the lawn, but instead concentrated on paperwork, and things that work better without extra people constantly chattering in the background. Afternoon spent with tradesman coming by house to work on sprinkler system.
Thursday: Wrenched upper back while taking out trash at 6am. Managed to get the kids to VBS, stopped by vet's office for cat medication. Made cupcakes for VBS snacks on Friday. Somehow managed to pick up kids at noon, although it was becoming obvious I really shouldn't be driving around. Fed them something for lunch, although I didn't feel like eating. Afternoon spent lying on the floor with ice packs, wallowing in self-pity. Mr.V arrived home to announce that people at work are sick with stomach flu. Aha, that explains why I don't feel like eating.
Friday: Kids are still getting up at 7am. Dropped them off, then came home to watch a video while propped up with pillows. Hey, it's like lying around watching TV while eating bonbons -- isn't this what everyone else is doing?
Observations: Kid1 has decided that it's nice to have something to do in the morning, so she wants to start math and spelling. I was amazed that Kid2 lasted the week, although she was getting pretty ragged around the edges by the end. Both kids tended to fight and snipe quite a bit when they got home -- although they really enjoyed the VBS, they needed quite a bit of "decompressing" time.
Now it's Mondya morning, and we're back to our family's version of normal -- the kids are just now getting dressed at 9am, we'll read some books over a leisurely breakfast, maybe I'll finally get around to mowing the lawn. We'll still be spending the afternoon at the pool, though.
The significant thing about this VBS was that it ran from 9am to noon Monday through Friday. This would be a week like "normal" people have, dropping off kids in the morning and picking them up later.
Monday: The kids got up at 7am, anxious to start their first day. This totally messed up my morning routine (I expected to drag them out of bed at 8). After dropping them off, I scurried home, exercised and cleaned. Woohoo. Mr.V thought this was a total waste of a free morning ("I would've taken a nap."). Picked up kids at noon, discovering that I am the only mom there not wearing either dark brown or green. I am so out of touch with what is trendy. Spent afternoon at swimming pool.
Tuesday: Kids again up at 7am, but this time I expected it. Dropped them off (still not wearing trendy-mom-type outfit), and ran errands. Realized the last time I was out doing adult-type stuff at 9am on a weekday was sometime in the early 1990s. I purchased a copy of Bust magazine and a cream cheese brownie to celebrate my adulthood. The celebration lasted about 15 minutes, then I had to go pick up kids. Spent afternoon at swimming pool.
Wednesday: Kids up a little later, but still determined to go (I had emphasized that they didn't really need to do this, and I have no problem whatsoever with ditching VBS). I needed to mow the lawn, but instead concentrated on paperwork, and things that work better without extra people constantly chattering in the background. Afternoon spent with tradesman coming by house to work on sprinkler system.
Thursday: Wrenched upper back while taking out trash at 6am. Managed to get the kids to VBS, stopped by vet's office for cat medication. Made cupcakes for VBS snacks on Friday. Somehow managed to pick up kids at noon, although it was becoming obvious I really shouldn't be driving around. Fed them something for lunch, although I didn't feel like eating. Afternoon spent lying on the floor with ice packs, wallowing in self-pity. Mr.V arrived home to announce that people at work are sick with stomach flu. Aha, that explains why I don't feel like eating.
Friday: Kids are still getting up at 7am. Dropped them off, then came home to watch a video while propped up with pillows. Hey, it's like lying around watching TV while eating bonbons -- isn't this what everyone else is doing?
Observations: Kid1 has decided that it's nice to have something to do in the morning, so she wants to start math and spelling. I was amazed that Kid2 lasted the week, although she was getting pretty ragged around the edges by the end. Both kids tended to fight and snipe quite a bit when they got home -- although they really enjoyed the VBS, they needed quite a bit of "decompressing" time.
Now it's Mondya morning, and we're back to our family's version of normal -- the kids are just now getting dressed at 9am, we'll read some books over a leisurely breakfast, maybe I'll finally get around to mowing the lawn. We'll still be spending the afternoon at the pool, though.
27 July 2006
Knitting Angst
I hate it when this happens:
This is Picovoli in purple. The length between my thumb and finger is the length from the neckline to the underarm ... except that it obviously isn't enough, as you can see from the Green Gable sweater under it (unless the neckline is meant to be almost in my armpit, which really wasn't my vision for this garment). When I knit Green Gable (also a top-down knit) I had to add a couple of inches to the length from the neck to the underarm. It was a tedious process of knitting, putting stitches on waste yarn, trying on, putting the stitches back on the needles, knitting a few more rows, waste yarn, try on, etc. etc.
It seems to me that someone somewhere has written a schematic on how to alter sizes for top-down knits, and hasn't really taken into consideration that shoulder-to-armpit measures don't change at the same rate that the bustline measures change.
I've found a Knit Along for Picovoli. I should probably scan through it to see if others have offered a "fix" for the problem. Really, though, I don't want to deal with it. I'm tempted to just rip it back out and do something else with the yarn. Something non-raglan and non-top-down. Something I can knit while trying to figure out how to teach Classical Writing Aesop (yes, that is what the knitting is piled on). The kids want to start school next week, and it's really too hot for a dark purple handknit top.
I would continue in this grumpy vein of thought, but I just realized that I put cupcakes in the oven to bake and forgot to set the timer, so I need to go watch them bake.
This is Picovoli in purple. The length between my thumb and finger is the length from the neckline to the underarm ... except that it obviously isn't enough, as you can see from the Green Gable sweater under it (unless the neckline is meant to be almost in my armpit, which really wasn't my vision for this garment). When I knit Green Gable (also a top-down knit) I had to add a couple of inches to the length from the neck to the underarm. It was a tedious process of knitting, putting stitches on waste yarn, trying on, putting the stitches back on the needles, knitting a few more rows, waste yarn, try on, etc. etc.
It seems to me that someone somewhere has written a schematic on how to alter sizes for top-down knits, and hasn't really taken into consideration that shoulder-to-armpit measures don't change at the same rate that the bustline measures change.
I've found a Knit Along for Picovoli. I should probably scan through it to see if others have offered a "fix" for the problem. Really, though, I don't want to deal with it. I'm tempted to just rip it back out and do something else with the yarn. Something non-raglan and non-top-down. Something I can knit while trying to figure out how to teach Classical Writing Aesop (yes, that is what the knitting is piled on). The kids want to start school next week, and it's really too hot for a dark purple handknit top.
I would continue in this grumpy vein of thought, but I just realized that I put cupcakes in the oven to bake and forgot to set the timer, so I need to go watch them bake.
21 July 2006
Friday's Feast
Appetizer
Fill in the blanks: I will do something productive when I finish messing around with this meme.
Soup
Name something you use to make your home smell good.
Right now I have a bouquet on my table (thanks, L!) but usually it’s herbs and elbow grease. I can’t abide synthetic fragrances, including those in most cleaning products.
Salad
If you could receive a coupon in the mail for 50% off any product, what would you want it to be for?
A generator. Or at least a box of popsicles.
Main Course
Besides sleeping, what do you spend the majority of the hours of your typical day doing?
Being awake. Was this a trick question?
Dessert
What can you hear right now while answering these questions?
The wonderful woosh of the air conditioner. There are 500,000 people in our area without power during this sweltering heat; those of us with electricity are aware of our blessings.
Fill in the blanks: I will do something productive when I finish messing around with this meme.
Soup
Name something you use to make your home smell good.
Right now I have a bouquet on my table (thanks, L!) but usually it’s herbs and elbow grease. I can’t abide synthetic fragrances, including those in most cleaning products.
Salad
If you could receive a coupon in the mail for 50% off any product, what would you want it to be for?
A generator. Or at least a box of popsicles.
Main Course
Besides sleeping, what do you spend the majority of the hours of your typical day doing?
Being awake. Was this a trick question?
Dessert
What can you hear right now while answering these questions?
The wonderful woosh of the air conditioner. There are 500,000 people in our area without power during this sweltering heat; those of us with electricity are aware of our blessings.
20 July 2006
Show-off moment of the week
For years we have used Story of the World, complete with Activity Guide. I have used the review question in the Activity Guide orally, emphasizing that we need to be able to answer the question in complete sentences. We do not answer in phrases, no sirree, we use subjects and predicates. If we forget this rule (which happens, oh, 50 percent of the time) Mommy says, "answer in a complete sentence, please," and we must restate the answer.
At Bible School the other night an adult asked, "Who remembers what our mission project for the week is?" She randomly picked 6-year-old Kid2 to answer, thrusting a microphone in the child's face. Kid2 stated in calm, measured tones, "Our mission project this week is to raise money for an orphanage in Mexico so the children can have uniforms and look like the other kids in their school classes."**
People were stunned. I think they expected some mumbled little, "ummmm, for kids in Mexico," as a reply.
Of course, it helps that Kid2 has a natural language acumen that befits a future attorney or politician.
But I prefer to pretend that it's all because of our homeschooling.
**The 30 kids in the orphanage typically dress in white shirts and blue pants to attend school. They would like to have uniforms like the other school children have so they are not so set apart as "those orphans".
At Bible School the other night an adult asked, "Who remembers what our mission project for the week is?" She randomly picked 6-year-old Kid2 to answer, thrusting a microphone in the child's face. Kid2 stated in calm, measured tones, "Our mission project this week is to raise money for an orphanage in Mexico so the children can have uniforms and look like the other kids in their school classes."**
People were stunned. I think they expected some mumbled little, "ummmm, for kids in Mexico," as a reply.
Of course, it helps that Kid2 has a natural language acumen that befits a future attorney or politician.
But I prefer to pretend that it's all because of our homeschooling.
**The 30 kids in the orphanage typically dress in white shirts and blue pants to attend school. They would like to have uniforms like the other school children have so they are not so set apart as "those orphans".
17 July 2006
VBS
The church we're currently attending is having VBS this week. It's Gospel Light's Son Treasure Island, and they're doing both a morning and an evening Biblse School. We chose the evening because parents are invited to attend with their kids. So I spent yesterday evening running around in a field shouting "Aargh, aargh, aargh, " (pirate talk) while playing tag.
We have met another family with kids the same ages as ours, which is really cool. The parents are math types, which provides great opportunities for us all to be geeky together. It also provides great opportunities for me to stick my foot in my mouth regarding public schools. For example, the dad was commenting that he thought if great that his daughter had a chance to do PowerPoint presentations in 4th grade. My natural inclination was to burst out with something like "any idiot can learn to use PowerPoint; the problem is that the kids are probably developing a tendency to think slick packaging is everything in a presentation and content is nothing." The dad in question was spared this speech, but Mr.V got an earful in the car on the way home.
We have met another family with kids the same ages as ours, which is really cool. The parents are math types, which provides great opportunities for us all to be geeky together. It also provides great opportunities for me to stick my foot in my mouth regarding public schools. For example, the dad was commenting that he thought if great that his daughter had a chance to do PowerPoint presentations in 4th grade. My natural inclination was to burst out with something like "any idiot can learn to use PowerPoint; the problem is that the kids are probably developing a tendency to think slick packaging is everything in a presentation and content is nothing." The dad in question was spared this speech, but Mr.V got an earful in the car on the way home.
14 July 2006
Friday's Feast
Appetizer
Name one thing nice that you could do for someone else today.
What an intriguing thought. I do nice things for people all the time; it just sort of happens spontaneously. I let people go ahead of me in the grocery line if they're in a hurry, I stop and help people who are in need. It doesn't often occur to me to make a plan for niceness. Okay, here's the plan: I'm going to say (or type in comments) something encouraging to someone. Maybe it will be you.
Soup
When was the last time you were frightened by the weather?
Last year our house in Ohio was up for sale and Mr.V had already moved to the new location several states away. A huge rainstorm hit one day (I think remnants of Katrina). I walked into my daughter's bedroom and heard dripping ... the roof was leaking and dripping right through the ceiling. Aaaargh! After the storm was over I had it patched, got bids, had the entire roof replaced (the interior dried out quickly -- no major damage to repair). But during every subsequent rainstorm I would start to panic. I would lie in bed at night watching the weather channel obsessively. To this day I'm skittish about big storms, worried our new house might spring a leak.
Salad
What would you say is the most useful website or blog that you visit?
Tough call. I use Amazon.com a lot for book reviews. On the other hand, interacting on Mothering.com is certainly a sanity-saver some days.
Main Course
Who was your favorite singer/group when you were a child?
I was sure I would someday be Mrs. Donny Osmond.
Dessert
Do you have any rituals? If so, what are they?
You know, the wording of this question is interesting. Are we to differentiate between routines and rituals? The word “ritual” implies a sacred quality above and beyond a “routine”...but, then again, ought we not imbue much of our day with the sacred? Shouldn't we approach our tasks with mindfulness, rather than mindless rote duty? The Tea Ceremony springs to mind -- serving tea can be considered a routine, or it can be elevated to ritual.
I deal with children and small animals all day long. We have myriad rituals. We have the morning Opening of the Cat Food Can. We have the Offering Up of Methimazole (thyroid medication) Hidden in Treat Food twice per day for our geriatric cat (I often feel like I am propitiating a deity when I set that saucer in front of her, whispering a prayer that she will find it worthy and not display her wrath by peeing all over the bathroom rugs). We have the Quiet Time Before the Kids Are Up during which I do QiGong. I have my personal care rituals. We have mealtime rituals -- we pray certain ways before certain meals, for instance. We read certain books aloud at certain times. Bedtime rituals. Cleaning rituals (why settle for cleaning routines when you can have rituals?). Weekly rituals, including attending church.
Life with kids and animals is chock-full of the unexpected. Many days these rituals don’t quite spring into full-flower -- someone will throw up, lose a tooth, bleed profusely, have emotional meltdown over a lost toy -- and the particular ritual of the moment will be abandoned to care for the trauma. But, there’s always the promise of the rituals that occur later in the day or later in the week to soothe us and let us know that life goes on in spite of these temporary setbacks.
Name one thing nice that you could do for someone else today.
What an intriguing thought. I do nice things for people all the time; it just sort of happens spontaneously. I let people go ahead of me in the grocery line if they're in a hurry, I stop and help people who are in need. It doesn't often occur to me to make a plan for niceness. Okay, here's the plan: I'm going to say (or type in comments) something encouraging to someone. Maybe it will be you.
Soup
When was the last time you were frightened by the weather?
Last year our house in Ohio was up for sale and Mr.V had already moved to the new location several states away. A huge rainstorm hit one day (I think remnants of Katrina). I walked into my daughter's bedroom and heard dripping ... the roof was leaking and dripping right through the ceiling. Aaaargh! After the storm was over I had it patched, got bids, had the entire roof replaced (the interior dried out quickly -- no major damage to repair). But during every subsequent rainstorm I would start to panic. I would lie in bed at night watching the weather channel obsessively. To this day I'm skittish about big storms, worried our new house might spring a leak.
Salad
What would you say is the most useful website or blog that you visit?
Tough call. I use Amazon.com a lot for book reviews. On the other hand, interacting on Mothering.com is certainly a sanity-saver some days.
Main Course
Who was your favorite singer/group when you were a child?
I was sure I would someday be Mrs. Donny Osmond.
Dessert
Do you have any rituals? If so, what are they?
You know, the wording of this question is interesting. Are we to differentiate between routines and rituals? The word “ritual” implies a sacred quality above and beyond a “routine”...but, then again, ought we not imbue much of our day with the sacred? Shouldn't we approach our tasks with mindfulness, rather than mindless rote duty? The Tea Ceremony springs to mind -- serving tea can be considered a routine, or it can be elevated to ritual.
I deal with children and small animals all day long. We have myriad rituals. We have the morning Opening of the Cat Food Can. We have the Offering Up of Methimazole (thyroid medication) Hidden in Treat Food twice per day for our geriatric cat (I often feel like I am propitiating a deity when I set that saucer in front of her, whispering a prayer that she will find it worthy and not display her wrath by peeing all over the bathroom rugs). We have the Quiet Time Before the Kids Are Up during which I do QiGong. I have my personal care rituals. We have mealtime rituals -- we pray certain ways before certain meals, for instance. We read certain books aloud at certain times. Bedtime rituals. Cleaning rituals (why settle for cleaning routines when you can have rituals?). Weekly rituals, including attending church.
Life with kids and animals is chock-full of the unexpected. Many days these rituals don’t quite spring into full-flower -- someone will throw up, lose a tooth, bleed profusely, have emotional meltdown over a lost toy -- and the particular ritual of the moment will be abandoned to care for the trauma. But, there’s always the promise of the rituals that occur later in the day or later in the week to soothe us and let us know that life goes on in spite of these temporary setbacks.
13 July 2006
The Knitting Slump is Over!
First, let me tell you the depth of the slump: I had finished knitting a scarf and bound off down to that last stitch on the needle -- you know, the last one where you need to simply snip the yarn and draw the yarn through. It sat there with that one lonely stitch on the needle for 3 weeks. I would think, "gee, I should go snip that yarn and get that off the needles (if for no other reason than to put the needles away so this scarf is no longer cluttering up the nightstand)." I would head upstairs ... and decide to clean out the litterbox instead.
Yes, I preferred cleaning a litterbox to performing even the simplest of knitting tasks.
But then, something happened. The new Knitty appeared (good thing I get email notification, because I cared so little about knitting that I wasn't checking the Knitty website). And the new Knitty had a pattern for (drumroll) a Klein bottle hat! Do you realize how much I have longed for a pattern for a Klein bottle hat? It's like opening up your cupboard and discovering that a houseguest absent-mindedly stuck the Holy Grail inside.
I really knew The Slump was over when I checked out Wendy's blog and saw Sizzle . Wow. What a pattern. It would look hideous on me, but I found myself really really wanting to knit it.
So. I got out my Debbie Bliss Cathay in purple and started swatching for Picovoli. Pretty pretty yarn. No pics, though, because I have about 100 photos to download into iPhoto and I just can't face iPhoto right now. I'm in a photography slump. It's like a roving cloud of apathy must settle over some portion of my life, and right now it's photos.
And that scarf? Blocked and mailed to person for whom it was knit.
Yes, I preferred cleaning a litterbox to performing even the simplest of knitting tasks.
But then, something happened. The new Knitty appeared (good thing I get email notification, because I cared so little about knitting that I wasn't checking the Knitty website). And the new Knitty had a pattern for (drumroll) a Klein bottle hat! Do you realize how much I have longed for a pattern for a Klein bottle hat? It's like opening up your cupboard and discovering that a houseguest absent-mindedly stuck the Holy Grail inside.
I really knew The Slump was over when I checked out Wendy's blog and saw Sizzle . Wow. What a pattern. It would look hideous on me, but I found myself really really wanting to knit it.
So. I got out my Debbie Bliss Cathay in purple and started swatching for Picovoli. Pretty pretty yarn. No pics, though, because I have about 100 photos to download into iPhoto and I just can't face iPhoto right now. I'm in a photography slump. It's like a roving cloud of apathy must settle over some portion of my life, and right now it's photos.
And that scarf? Blocked and mailed to person for whom it was knit.
11 July 2006
Poetry Memorizaton and Recitation
I'm taking the summer off from poetry recitation for my kids.
This has turned out to be dangerous. Mr.V has rushed in to fill the gap.
So, while y'all are helping your kids develop linguistic patterns through poetry memorization , my kids are memorizing the Crackerjack jingle. Both verses, plus chorus.
This is accompanied by shopping trips to buy Crackerjack. I keep finding candy coated popcorn stuck to the carpet.
This has turned out to be dangerous. Mr.V has rushed in to fill the gap.
So, while y'all are helping your kids develop linguistic patterns through poetry memorization , my kids are memorizing the Crackerjack jingle. Both verses, plus chorus.
This is accompanied by shopping trips to buy Crackerjack. I keep finding candy coated popcorn stuck to the carpet.
10 July 2006
Postcards
My Secret Pal from The Denim Jumper homeschool forum has been sending me wonderful postcards. I really wanted to share at least one of them -- it's a picture of sheep (I lucked into a Secret Pal who both homeschools and knits). But, in order to share it here I needed to have the scanner, iMac and Blogger all work together. They're refusing to cooperate. Blogger pretended the scanner doesn't exist, then iMac started ignoring it, too ... the scanner descended into depression, and started blinking incessantly that it was "warming up". Hah. I slapped around the iMac a bit, and showed the scanner who was boss (I unplugged it -- let it try warming up now, by gum). Unfortunately, I have less control over Blogger.
The postcards have been a bright spot in my days.
Other excitement: I received a copy of The Golden Children's Bible to use in our Christian studies this coming year, as outlined in The Latin Centered Curriculum . It was 22 cents with $3.50 postage, purchased used from Amazon.com. It's in excellent condition. The postman did an admirable job of jamming it into our mailbox, but I managed to extract it with having to hacksaw the mailbox or the book (I think the postman resents the number of packages he has to deliver here, and this is his passive-aggressive way of dealing with it).
I celebrated by ordering Classical Writing Aesop . I'm nervous about this. It's one thing to spend about $4 on a children's Bible and end up ditching in lieu of something better (whatever that may be). It's quite another to buy an entire writing program that you may ending up hating.
I have been reading quite a bit about Traditional Chinese Medicine lately. Apparently one's ability to be decisive is related to one's gall bladder. Well. Hmmm. I think my gall bladder has made just about enough decisions for one day.
The postcards have been a bright spot in my days.
Other excitement: I received a copy of The Golden Children's Bible to use in our Christian studies this coming year, as outlined in The Latin Centered Curriculum . It was 22 cents with $3.50 postage, purchased used from Amazon.com. It's in excellent condition. The postman did an admirable job of jamming it into our mailbox, but I managed to extract it with having to hacksaw the mailbox or the book (I think the postman resents the number of packages he has to deliver here, and this is his passive-aggressive way of dealing with it).
I celebrated by ordering Classical Writing Aesop . I'm nervous about this. It's one thing to spend about $4 on a children's Bible and end up ditching in lieu of something better (whatever that may be). It's quite another to buy an entire writing program that you may ending up hating.
I have been reading quite a bit about Traditional Chinese Medicine lately. Apparently one's ability to be decisive is related to one's gall bladder. Well. Hmmm. I think my gall bladder has made just about enough decisions for one day.
07 July 2006
Friday's Feast
Appetizer
When was the last time you visited a hospital?
A couple of weeks ago to have a mammogram.
Soup
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how ambitious are you?
It depends. I’m about a 2 on the ambition of “getting ahead” and being considered swanky, sophisticated, and in with the in crowd. On the other hand, I feel called to eradicate wallpaper from the world, which is a fairly ambitious goal
Salad
Make a sentence using the letters of a body part. (Example: (mouth) My other ukelele tings healthily.)
Did Nigel answer?
(I spent quite a while trying to come up with something for spleen, but it never really coalesced, so I grabbed my 6yo’s Usborne First Encyclopedia of the Human Body and vowed to write a sentence for the first thing I saw. It was a picture of the DNA ladder. I thought about doing a paragraph using sentences based on the nucleotides, but decided that was too showy and ambitious.)
Main Course
If you were to start a club, what would the subject matter be, and what would you name it?
It would be dedicated to knitting and wearing Klein bottle hats . We would simply call ourselves “geeks” or perhaps “Purdue alums”.
Dessert
What color is the carpet/flooring in your home?
Dirty grey and dirty brown. I think the previous owners thought it would hide dirt. Mostly it just looks ... dirty.
When was the last time you visited a hospital?
A couple of weeks ago to have a mammogram.
Soup
On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how ambitious are you?
It depends. I’m about a 2 on the ambition of “getting ahead” and being considered swanky, sophisticated, and in with the in crowd. On the other hand, I feel called to eradicate wallpaper from the world, which is a fairly ambitious goal
Salad
Make a sentence using the letters of a body part. (Example: (mouth) My other ukelele tings healthily.)
Did Nigel answer?
(I spent quite a while trying to come up with something for spleen, but it never really coalesced, so I grabbed my 6yo’s Usborne First Encyclopedia of the Human Body and vowed to write a sentence for the first thing I saw. It was a picture of the DNA ladder. I thought about doing a paragraph using sentences based on the nucleotides, but decided that was too showy and ambitious.)
Main Course
If you were to start a club, what would the subject matter be, and what would you name it?
It would be dedicated to knitting and wearing Klein bottle hats . We would simply call ourselves “geeks” or perhaps “Purdue alums”.
Dessert
What color is the carpet/flooring in your home?
Dirty grey and dirty brown. I think the previous owners thought it would hide dirt. Mostly it just looks ... dirty.
06 July 2006
Noeo Science
I know I've declared our homeschool a Multum non Multa zone, but the kids kept talking about the science they wanted to study.
Kid2 is obsessed with weather. Mostly she's obsessed with weather disasters, especially weather disasters that may impinge on her personal territory (specifically tornadoes, although any sort of storm is good for a panic attack). And both kids have announced that we need to study the human body during the next school year.
I was noodling around on the computer, looking at curriculum websites for no particular reason (Multum non Multa! We don't need your silly little curriculums for every cotton-pickin' subject! We are free from curriculum-purchase frenzy!**), when I happened upon Noeo Science .
Hold on, folks ... look at that Biology 1. Is that ... could it be ... they start the course with weather, then move through various biology topics including the human body? And it's all laid out for me week by week? In a nice, neat little package?
I kept coming back to the website, intrigued. Who starts a biology course with weather? What a concept! And all in a package, sort of like a Sonlight history program, but for science. And with a hefty discount for buying the package.
I took the plunge. I ordered. It arrived quickly at my door. Oooooooh, a box of books and experiments to open!
Kid2 said she didn't want to start right away. She first wanted to get used to the idea that it was here in our house (an interesting comment for a 6 year old to make). So we let the box sit for a week.
Yesterday I announced that we were going to "do" weather. We read the first assignment, which was about the layers of atmosphere and about how the Earth moves about the sun giving us our seasons. Then we did the assignment, which was to draw the Earth in 4 positions around the sun, illustrating the seasons. I had thought through this process, and decided to approach it much the same as our Christopherus drawings. I got out the "good" crayons (Stockmars, a tin each of block and stick). I drew a sample picture myself, discussing how and why I decided to draw certain things certain ways. Then they set to work.
Kid1 completed the assignment quickly and easily. She's been through this Earth-tilt-makes-seasons business numerous times, including in her recent astronomy studies. Kid2 was surprisingly confused. I was holding a paperclip on the Northern Hemisphere of the Earth-drawing she had made, saying, "Okay, now it's pointing towards the sun so we have summer here. As we go around the circle this was we end up at winter [moving paper clip through the various drawing]. What season is in between?" She kept answering, "Spring!" Hmmm. I really thought she understood this better than she did. Just goes to show that there's something to this narration and picture-drawing business, if only to remind me that a 6 year old isn't quite ready for so much abstract reasoning.
**The Rainbow Resource catalog arrived the other day. I simply threw it in a pile of catalogs. No desire to skim through it looking for cool curricula that would revolutionize our lives. I'm over that mania, at least for now.
Kid2 is obsessed with weather. Mostly she's obsessed with weather disasters, especially weather disasters that may impinge on her personal territory (specifically tornadoes, although any sort of storm is good for a panic attack). And both kids have announced that we need to study the human body during the next school year.
I was noodling around on the computer, looking at curriculum websites for no particular reason (Multum non Multa! We don't need your silly little curriculums for every cotton-pickin' subject! We are free from curriculum-purchase frenzy!**), when I happened upon Noeo Science .
Hold on, folks ... look at that Biology 1. Is that ... could it be ... they start the course with weather, then move through various biology topics including the human body? And it's all laid out for me week by week? In a nice, neat little package?
I kept coming back to the website, intrigued. Who starts a biology course with weather? What a concept! And all in a package, sort of like a Sonlight history program, but for science. And with a hefty discount for buying the package.
I took the plunge. I ordered. It arrived quickly at my door. Oooooooh, a box of books and experiments to open!
Kid2 said she didn't want to start right away. She first wanted to get used to the idea that it was here in our house (an interesting comment for a 6 year old to make). So we let the box sit for a week.
Yesterday I announced that we were going to "do" weather. We read the first assignment, which was about the layers of atmosphere and about how the Earth moves about the sun giving us our seasons. Then we did the assignment, which was to draw the Earth in 4 positions around the sun, illustrating the seasons. I had thought through this process, and decided to approach it much the same as our Christopherus drawings. I got out the "good" crayons (Stockmars, a tin each of block and stick). I drew a sample picture myself, discussing how and why I decided to draw certain things certain ways. Then they set to work.
Kid1 completed the assignment quickly and easily. She's been through this Earth-tilt-makes-seasons business numerous times, including in her recent astronomy studies. Kid2 was surprisingly confused. I was holding a paperclip on the Northern Hemisphere of the Earth-drawing she had made, saying, "Okay, now it's pointing towards the sun so we have summer here. As we go around the circle this was we end up at winter [moving paper clip through the various drawing]. What season is in between?" She kept answering, "Spring!" Hmmm. I really thought she understood this better than she did. Just goes to show that there's something to this narration and picture-drawing business, if only to remind me that a 6 year old isn't quite ready for so much abstract reasoning.
**The Rainbow Resource catalog arrived the other day. I simply threw it in a pile of catalogs. No desire to skim through it looking for cool curricula that would revolutionize our lives. I'm over that mania, at least for now.
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